Weekend Box Office Wrap Up: Feb 24 2013

In a typically slow Oscar weekend, there were some serious shake-ups at the box office.

In at number 1 – after occupying the number 2 spot for the past two weeks – is Identity Thief with $14 million. The road trip comedy starring Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman is now up to $93 million. Barring any crazy circumstances, it’s safe to say Identity Thief is this February’s highest grossing movie.

Right behind Identity Thief is Snitch (read our review) with $13 million. The action/drama narrowly beat out Thief on Friday, but was unable to claim the full weekend.

For Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Snitch is one of his worst opening weekends for a wide release, ahead of only Faster. Summit Entertainment marketed the film as an action flick, when it’s really more of a message-fueled drama, and unfortunately that trick didn’t pay off.

Coming in at number 3 is Escape From Planet Earth with $11 million. Past history has shown us that on slow weekends animated films can turn up big, and while Escape isn’t going to break any records, it did jump ahead of two of last week’s more popular new releases. The film is now up to $35 million in domestic grosses.

Safe Haven is the number 4 film this weekend with $10.6 million. The Nicholas Sparks adaptation is now at $48 million.

Rounding out the top 5 – and falling 5 spots – is A Good Day to Die Hard, which posted a $10 million second weekend tally. To be fair, the film is up to $51 million in domestic grosses, but it’s well on track to becoming the weakest performing film in the Die Hard franchise.

The other new release of the weekend, Dark Skies (read our review), comes in at number 6 with $8.8 million. Horror/supernatural films typically fare quite well during slow weekends, but it was difficult to put a thumb on just who might be interested in this movie.

That said, Dark Skies was made for a relatively low $3.5 million budget, which should put it “in the black” regardless. Aliens apparently aren’t as appealing as ghosts or demons these days.

Silver Linings Playbook comes in at number 7 with $6 million. The film has crossed the $100 million threshold, and is now at $107 million. If Jennifer Lawrence wins an Oscar tonight (or if Silver Linings Playbook wins best picture, for that matter), expect this film to stick around in the top 10 for at least another week.

Coming in at number 8 is Warm Bodies with $4.7 million. The unconventional love story (with zombies) is now at $58 million.

Side Effects comes in at number 9 with $3.5 million. It’s probably for the best that director Steven Soderbergh typically shoots low budget, as this film has only grossed $25 million over 3 weeks.

And rounding out the top 10 is Beautiful Creatures with $3.4 million, which brings its domestic total up to $16 million. Just as Identity Thief should be counted among February’s winners, this YA novel adaptation should be counted among the month’s losers.

[NOTE: These are only weekend box office estimates - based on Friday and Saturday ticket sales coupled with adjusted expectations for Sunday. Official weekend box office results will be released Monday, February 24th - at which time we'll update this post with any changes.]